The trend estimate of the value of total building work done for the December 2007 quarter fell 0.4% on the revised September quarter estimate.

The seasonally adjusted December quarter estimate of the value of total building work done fell 4.3%, to $16,158.7m, on the revised September quarter estimate.

NEW RESIDENTIAL

The trend estimate of the value of new residential building work done fell 1.3% in the latest quarter, with both new houses and new other residential building falling 1.3%. Alterations and additions to residential building rose 0.7%.

The seasonally adjusted estimate of the value of new residential work done fell 3.0%, to $8,033.2m. Work done on new houses rose 0.1%, to $5,742.5m, while new other residential building fell 10.1%, to $2,290.7m. Alterations and additions rose 0.6%, to $1,565.6m.

NON-RESIDENTIAL

The trend estimate of the value of non-residential building work done in the quarter rose 0.4% on the revised September quarter estimate.

The seasonally adjusted estimate of the value of non-residential building work done in the quarter fell 7.0%, to $6,559.9m, on the revised September quarter estimate.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)

Release Date

March 2008

15 July 2008

June 2008

13 October 2008

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

This publication updates the preliminary estimates released in Construction Work Done, Australia(cat. no. 8755.0) on 28 November 2007. The data in this publication are based on a response rate of approximately 96% of the value of building work done during the quarter. The data are subject to revision when returns from the following quarter are processed. Final data for the December quarter 2007 will be released in Building Activity, Australia (cat. no. 8752.0) on 15 July 2008.

CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

This release has used ARIMA modelling where appropriate for individual time series. The revision properties of the seasonally adjusted and trend estimates can be improved by the use of autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) modelling. ARIMA modelling relies on the characteristics of the series being analysed to project future period data. The projected values are temporary, intermediate values, that are only used internally to improve the estimation of the seasonal factors. The projected data do not affect the original estimates and are discarded at the end of the seasonal adjustment process.The ARIMA model is assessed as part of the annual reanalysis and following the 2008 annual reanalysis 65% of the applicable Value of Building Work Done series, 79% of the applicable Building commencements series, and 53% of the applicable Building completions series will use an ARIMA model. For more information on the details of ARIMA modelling see feature article: Use of ARIMA modelling to reduce revisions in the October 2004 issue of Australian Economic Indicators (cat. no. 1350.0).

To bring this publication in line withBuilding Approvals, Australia (cat. no. 8731.0) the Time Series Spreadsheet tables 78 and 79, with data coded to the 1986 Function Classification of Buildings (FCB), are no longer available on the ABS web site. A concordance between the 1986 FCB and the 1999 FCB is available in the classification manual - ABS Functional Classification of Buildings (cat. no. 1268.0.55.001).

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Willie Hynd on Adelaide (08) 8237 7645.